Fifteen sixteen-year-old Fenno-Swedish compulsory school pupils' descriptions and evaluations of significant, i.e. more or less "strong", experiences relating to dramatic art (film, theatre) were analysed and compared with reported experiences in other aesthetic areas (music, nature etc.). The drama area was represented in many experiences, but could not, however, compete with the music area regarding the number of reported experiences and the rated strength of these. As to different ways of confronting drama, experiences involving own acting or ordinary (i.e. not school-arranged) theatre attending were strikingly few, and those related to TV- or video watching were not especially numerous despite pupils' frequent leisure time watching of films via these media. Effects of gender and place of residence were noted in many respects, e.g. regarding experiences connected with TV/video watching vs. cinema attending (cinema more frequent among the girls and in the capital), and regarding the type of film experienced (girls reporting more experiences of drama films). Higher average strength ratings for the reported experiences were noted in the capital (vs. towns and countryside), for experiences involving drama films (vs. horror, action etc.) and films watched at cinema (vs. on TV/video), among the girls, and for the very few experiences involving own acting. A comparison with significant experiences in the music area showed that these more often involved own overt performing and (partly as a consequence of this) more social and creative activities than did the drama experiences. In discussing educational and research implications, the necessity of theatre and audience development projects initiated by schools or community agencies was especially stressed. (Contains 4 tables and 1 endnote.)